BROOMFIELD, Colo. -- For 2017, Ball Corporation reported sales of $11.0 billion, up 21 percent compared to sales of $9.1 billion in 2016. Net income for the year was $399 million compared to $263 million in 2016.

Fourth quarter 2017 sales were $2.7 billion up almost 9 percent compared to $2.5 billion in the fourth quarter of 2016. Net earnings attributable to Ball Corporation were $184 million, compared to $52 million in the fourth quarter of 2016.

"Ball Corporation finished the year strong, with continued improved performance across each of our segments. In our global beverage can business, overall volumes were up approximately 2.5 percent in the quarter, driven by continued strong performance in our South American beverage can business, a rebound in our North American beverage operations following the hurricane disruptions experienced in the third quarter, and our European beverage can business continued to execute its margin-enhancing strategy. In addition, our food and aerosol segment was up year-over-year in the quarter driven by the mid-single digit increase in global aluminum aerosol volumes and better than expected tinplate packaging volumes, while our aerospace team achieved record contracted backlog levels at year-end," said John A. Hayes, chairman, president and chief executive officer.

"We are poised to execute on numerous growth capital and network optimization projects to enhance our customers' access to our innovative specialty container portfolio while also expanding the company's U.S. aerospace infrastructure."

AEROSPACE INDUSTRY SEGMENTS

Aerospace

Ball Aerospace & Technologies comparable segment operating earnings for full-year 2017 were $98 million on sales of $991 million, compared to $88 million on sales of $818 million during 2016. Comparable segment operating earnings in the fourth quarter of 2017 were $28 million on sales of $257 million compared to $26 million on sales of $241 million in the fourth quarter of 2016. The ramp up of new contracts and the mix of more cost-plus versus fixed-price contracts influenced year-over-year margins.

The aerospace segment finished 2017 with record contracted backlog of $1.75 billion and hired in excess of 400 employees in the U.S. during the year. Colorado facility expansions in Westminster and Boulder, Colorado, are on track for completion in the fourth quarter of 2018 and the business anticipates hiring at least 450 additional U.S. employees by the end of 2018. Outstanding requests for bids and proposals remain high and contracts already won, but not yet booked into current backlog, remain at record levels. Momentum in our aerospace segment supports recent capital deployment and further segment earnings improvement in 2018 and beyond.

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